A disadvantage of a device for analyzing biological or medical specimens is that human material, such as tissue, hairs or other epithelial cells, may undesirably infiltrate from the air into the specimen to be analyzed. Precisely in the case of the analysis of human nucleic acids, however, it is necessary to pay particular attention to ensuring that such contamination is avoided.
The object of the present invention is to avoid this disadvantage of the prior art.
According to the invention, a closure element is provided for the leaktight closure of a preparation chamber formed in a basic body. The preparation chamber is connected to at least one first duct, through which substance can be introduced into and removed from the preparation chamber when the closure element is closed. Contamination of the specimen material can thereby be avoided. It is possible, at the same time, to treat the specimen material, for example, with reagents or substances necessary for analysis.
The closure element is expediently a lid which is designed to be transparent, at least in portions, and which is pivotably connected to the basic body. The basic body itself may be produced, at least in portions, from translucent material. It is thus possible to use the device according to the invention for both reflected light and transmitted light methods of microscopic analysis.
In order to rule out contamination of the specimen completely, the first duct may preferably be designed to be closable. For this purpose, the duct may also be provided, for example, with a connection produced in the form of an automatically closing coupling.
The bottom of the basic body is appropriately produced from a material, the thermal conductivity of which is higher than that of the material of the lid. In this case, the bottom is preferably produced from metal, such as aluminum, or a precious metal, such as gold. In order to set the reaction temperature suitable for analysis, the bottom may have a heating and/or cooling device. For special uses, it is also conceivable to provide the bottom with special coatings, such as silanization.
The height of the preparation chamber is preferably 0.01-10 mm. The length of the preparation chamber is in the range of between 5 and 150 mm, and the width is in the range of between 1 and 50 m. The volume may be 1 m1xe2x80x941 ml.
In a particularly universal version of the device according to the invention, electrodes or capacitor plates are provided on the basic body. These may be arranged in such a way that they are directly in contact with the preparation chamber. The electrodes or capacitor plates are expediently provided in a mutually opposite arrangement in the basic body. They are preferably produced from precious metals, such as platinum, gold or the like.
According to a further design feature, a gel block may be provided in the preparation chamber, the gel block having a preparation area separated by a permeable barrier. This embodiment of the invention serves for conducting electrophoretic analyses. In this case, at least one second duct may be provided, through which substance can be introduced into and removed from the preparation area when the closure element is closed.
In order, in particular, to avoid air inclusions below the lid which impair the observation of the specimen material and to always ensure that the lid is arranged parallel to the bottom, the lid may have, on the inside facing the preparation chamber, a projection with spacers, via which the lid, when in the closed state, can be supported against the bottom of the basic body.